In the United States, city governments have been among the most vocal actors in pledging climate action. Yet, in both their greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and their climate action plans, cities are often leaving out a significant piece of their own climate footprint—the GHG emissions embodied in the meat and dairy products consumed in cities. […]

Authors: Richard Stewart, Michael Oppenheimer and Bryce Rudyk The Paris Agreement cemented a new framework for global climate policy based on the voluntary and non-legally binding emission reduction actions by both developed and developing countries. The building blocks strategy for climate action discussed in this Special Issue is well adapted to and strongly complements this […]

Authors: Michael Oppenheimer, Bryce Rudyk, Richard Stewart The likely future global climate regime, based on nationally determined, non-legally binding commitments, is not by itself likely to produce emissions reductions sufficient to prevent dangerous climate change. There is, however, already significant mitigation occurring outside the context of the UNFCCC that could potentially be scaled up to fill the gap. This […]

Countries have agreed to write a new climate agreement to begin in 2020 and replace the Kyoto Protocol. The agreement will be finalized at the 21st UN Climate Convention Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2015 in Paris, but the text of the agreement will be finished this year at COP20 in Lima in December. […]

As a result of failures over many years to reach an encompassing international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions, there is increasing recognition of serious problems in basic design features of the sole global climate change architecture, the UNFCCC. This recognition has provoked calls over the past few years about bottom up strategies for climate. […]

Authors: Richard Stewart, Michael Oppenheimer and Bryce Rudyk This article presents an innovative institutional approach to supplement and ultimately strengthen the lagging United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process for negotiating a climate treaty that commits major emitting and developed countries to greenhouse gas emissions limitations. The Durban Platform for Enhanced Action does […]

Author: Katrina Wyman In recent years there have been suggestions that climate change might generate 200 million or more migrants by 2050. In response to these suggestions, and concerns that existing law and policy will be inadequate to deal with the expected displacement, there recently have been several proposals for new legally binding multilateral instruments […]

Authors: Richard Stewart, Michael Oppenheimer and Bryce Rudyk The Durban Platform for Enhanced Action holds out the promise of progress towards a climate treaty that includes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions limitations commitments by all major emitting countries, including developing as well as developed countries. But as the UNFCCC process still faces significant obstacles, it needs […]